Since the beginning of this year, rumors have started swirling regarding Apple’s next generation iPhone. The possibility of having TWO new devices this year: iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S have many confused. Latest iPhone 5 cases suggest the screen will be about 4″ screen!

Per Macrumors, an iPhone 5 design documentation was shipped out to third party case manufacturers last July. From their own measurements, the device should be 4.33″ x 2.36″. The latest swing of new purported iPhone 5 cases show a longer and wider design. Due to this, they’ve ordered a couple of those cases, measured them and here are their results…

While accurate measurements were difficult to achieve due to open ends and overhangs on the sides of the case, we estimate the size of the phone at approximately 4.7″ x 2.6″. Measuring the expected thickness of the device is more challenging given uncertainty about exactly how the case snaps onto it along the sides, but the device certainly appears to be below .30″ at its thickest and tapering by approximately .065″ from top to bottom.

In case you’re wondering, your iPhone 4′s measurement is 4.5″ x 2.31″. Here’s an image of the cases they’ve ordered and measured with an iPhone 4 inside for comparison:

For their conclusion: “Assuming a comparable margin on the iPhone 5, the device’s display would be approximately 2.24″ wide, making the display approximately 4″ on the diagonal. It seems unlikely that Apple would make the margins of the iPhone 5 screen larger than on the iPhone 4, so if this does represent the final case design, the iPhone 5′s screen would have to be at least 4″. ”

Even after the research Macrumors has done, they still aren’t definite with how big (or small) the iPhone 5 will be. Of course, there’s always the fact that these cases ARE wrong. Apple should be announcing details on the new iPhone sometime this month with rumors pointing to an early October launch.

If you were to choose, would you like a bigger iPhone or should Apple stick to iPhone 4-sized devices?